Lok Satta Party rules out electoral tie-up with AAP

Hyderabad: Lok Satta Party’s national president Jayaprakash Narayan on Friday said that his party would not have any electoral tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but contest the forthcoming Assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections independently in Andhra Pradesh.

"We have no plans to have an alliance with AAP either for Assembly or Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh. The Lok Satta Party will contest all 294 Assembly segments in the coming elections under its own symbol," he told reporters.

Incidentally, senior AAP leader Prashant Bhushan had recently said in Hyderabad that the two parties had decided not to enter into any pre-poll alliance.

Led by former bureaucrat Jayaprakash Narayan, who is the lone legislator of his party in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, the Lok Satta Party and his team from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi had earlier held discussions with AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders in Delhi, fuelling speculations that both the parties could forge an alliance for the ensuing general and Assembly elections.

Asked if the party would ally with other parties including AAP in other states, Narayan said, “As of now, we have no alliances with anybody and with regard to other states we will let you know. At this point of time, we have no plans on (having) alliances in other states. We will take decisions depending on circumstances in such states.”

Meanwhile, the Lok Satta Party announced its first list of 25 candidates for the forthcoming Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections on Friday. The party also unveiled its unique 'Suggest Your Candidate' drive.

The party's national committee entrusted with the task of identifying candidates is in the process of finding credible and reputed candidates to be fielded for the Lok Sabha seats and their names would be announced at an appropriate time, Narayan said.